Did you know that, before the pandemic, the events industry in the UK was worth £84 billion? In terms of direct spend annually, meetings and conferences were worth £18.3 billion. Additionally, trade shows and exhibitions were worth £11 billion and incentive travel was worth £1.2 billion.
Considering the size of the events industry, it’s an exciting time to be running events in the UK. However, if you’re looking for an events staffing agency, you might not be sure how to choose the right one. This can be stressful.
Fortunately, in this guide, we’ll review how you can find the best events staffing agency in the UK. Finally, you can hire the best staff for your event, making your event one of the best in the industry. Read on to learn more.
One of the best strategies you can use to find the right event staff agency is to ask for recommendations. If you have any industry connections who’ve hosted events in the past, ask them about the event staff agencies they’ve worked with before.
If they have any recommendations for you, ask them about the agencies’ ability to organise and how good the staff they provided were. Additionally, ask whether they think they got their money’s worth.
To find the right events staff agency for your event, you should look at the experience they’ve had. This is for two reasons. First of all, by choosing a company that has a lot of experience staffing events, you can be sure that you get the best staffing solutions from them.
The second reason is that, by learning about the specific events staffing experience they have, you can find out if they’ve staffed events similar to yours. If so, they’re a good company to consider.
Additionally, look for event staffing agencies that have experience directly with your industry or with the types of guests who are attending your event. This is a sign that they’ll know who to hire for the event.
When you’re in the process of choosing the right event staff agency, you should look for insurance and liability. The hire event staff that works for the company should have the right coverage, such as general liability, liquor liability, workers compensation, and umbrella policies.
If you’re checking out the different event staffing agency websites, look for this information. Additionally, if you’re communicating with them, you can ask over the phone or via email about their insurance and liability policies.
Something else to look for when you’re choosing an event staffing agency in the UK is exclusive staff. To find out whether agencies have an exclusive staff or not, you’ll have to ask them how they choose the staff they hire.
If the hire rate is somewhere between 5% and 10%, this is a sign that the agency hires, out of people who apply, the best. The best are people who have been working in events for a long time.
As a result, if you hire the events staffing agency to staff your event, the people working at it will know how to serve your guests flawlessly.
Additionally, ask the different events staffing agencies how they vet their applicants. Is there a video interview involved? Do they pay attention to body language?
By choosing an event staffing agency that has a thorough vetting process, you can be sure that they’re hiring great staff that will eventually potentially work at your event.
You should also look for responsive support from the different events staffing agencies you’re considering. To check about this, go onto the websites of the different staffing agencies. Then, contact them over the phone (using the number on the website), online chat, or through a web form or email.
If they don’t get back to you on the same day you get in touch with them, it’s best to go with another agency. This is because what you should look for is attention that’s one-on-one from the start.
Think about it this way. Once you’ve hired the events staffing agency, you want to be sure you’re working with an agency that will be responsive to you.
The way they support you from the start is a sign of how well they’ll do once you’ve already started working with them.
Sometimes, events staffing agencies will have an online portfolio available where you can see the different potential staff for your event. If an events staffing agency has this online portfolio available, it’s a sign of professionalism.
If they have it available, take a look at it. This way, you can think about who you would hire as bar staff and for other positions for your event.
When it comes to how to staff events with the right events staffing agency, you should also, when researching the different staffing agencies, look for all-in-one services. A good agency will do more than just provide you with staff; they’ll have staff available who can cover your entire event.
Look for an events staffing agency that has staff who can handle a variety of elements of your event, including silverware preparation, table preparation, coat check, clean up, set up, bartending, bussing, and serving.
Something else to look for when considering different events staffing agency options is program planning support. This is when the agency will meet with you and discuss your event so that they can help you determine what staff types you need and how many.
This is a sign that the events staffing agency is professional. Additionally, if it’s your first time hosting an event, we recommend you choose an events staffing agency that offers this support.
This way, you can ensure that you have the right number of people in the right roles at your event.
Whether your event is a product sampling event, an exhibition, a fundraiser, or some other type of event, you should look for an events staffing agency that provides you with team leads or managers for your event. This is because team leads running the show will make your event successful.
Team leads will organise the team so that they’re utilising each individual’s strength to the fullest. By using this method, it will be easy for them to immediately deploy staff right after arrival.
Then, whilst they’re on-site, the team lead will be the client go-to, help with training, handle adjustments, and handle staff breaks.
In addition to having support on-site, it’s important that the events staffing agency you choose have in-office support. This way, if there’s an issue with hiring on-site where one of the staff doesn’t show up, the person on-site can get in touch with the office.
Then, the office can look through their database and get in touch with other potential staff to come in.
When you’re communicating with different events staffing agencies, one of the things you should do is ask for references. If they’re a legitimate, high-quality agency, they’ll have references of which they can give you the contact information.
When you get in touch with these references, ask them what they thought of the staff the events staffing agency provided. Additionally, ask them about how good the service was and how professional the agencies were.
If the agencies you’re communicating with don’t have references, this is a red flag. Take those agencies off your list of potential agencies.
Finally, look at reviews. Whether you’re looking for an events staffing agency that specialises in exhibitions, promotional staff, or entertainment events, this will help you figure out whether the agencies you’re considering offer high-quality staff and service.
Get started by looking at the reviews on their websites. Additionally, look at the reviews on third-party websites.
Note that one negative review shouldn’t worry you too much. However, many of them are red flags.
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Now that you’ve learned how to find the best events staffing agency in the UK, you might be ready to start looking. In this case, you should look no further than Events Staffing Agency. We’re experts when it comes to staffing events.
The exhibition staff we can hire for you include hospitality, pop-up, and event staffing. We also have costume characters available! To learn more about how we can help you staff your event, contact us now.
Fill in our contact form below or call 0207 607 2568 for an instant quote
